Smooth, drippy almond butter spiced with the taste of fall – cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg all enhanced out by a touch of salt and a bit of sweetener. I used stevia in this recipe but this would be amazing with a tablespoon of maple syrup or agave nectar instead.
My thinking out loud post today is sponsored by my lack of sleep and my sick puppy 🙁
So half marathon training is a lot harder this year for some reason. I used to get my long runs in at night on Sunday or Monday but my schedule really isn’t working well to have night runs. I think I need to move these to Saturday or Sunday mornings but omg I love sleeping in and my legs take forever to warm up in the morning. Anyone have tips on how to become a morning runner without dreading the first 3 miles? Wish me luck, I’ve got to run 7 miles this weekend y’all – eeek!
Speaking of running… I went for a nice 3 mile run yesterday during lunch. It was sunny and 75 – talk about amazing. I don’t know about you but I can’t stand to run with my hair falling out of my ponytail. And of course this was the situation yesterday – so I decided to fix it during the downhill portion of my run since I tend to slow down going down hill anyway. Of course this is the only time on my run where there are people around. And of course I fell. Face planted into the ground is probably a better description. I was mortified and I scraped up my hand and knee pretty bad. But I learned a long time ago – get up and go because once you decide to stop it’s really hard to get started again. The lady walking toward me had a look of overwhelming concern on her face. SIGH.
I’m usually pretty decent at multitasking during a run but I haven’t been sleeping much (hello 2 am bedtime). My sweet Sugar bear hasn’t been feeling well and I have been spending a ton of time keeping her comfortable and making sure she eats and gets water. I never thought about how hard it is to get a dog to drink water. HOLY MOLY its frustrating. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. There is nothing I won’t try right now. She’s heading to the vet if she doesn’t turn around (I’ve already had a vet to the house – she’s got a kind of doggie vertigo called vestibular disease). It will go away on it’s own, it just very scary when she doesn’t want to drink any water and is dizzy all the time.
But I try to keep a positive attitude and when that doesn’t work I eat my feelings. And man have I been eating a lot lately. Homemade snickers, almond joys, pumpkin spice granola and pumpkin spiced almond butter on pretty much anything I can think of. My favorite ways to enjoy this so far has been slathered on bananas and apples, in my pumpkin pie smoothies, on greek yogurt with frozen raspberries and blueberries and honestly right out of the jar has been pretty fantastic. I am going to make a big batch this weekend and attempt to make pumpkin spiced cookies with it.
There is no wrong way to enjoy this almond butter. By roasting the almonds for a few minutes before blitzing them in the food processor, helps get the almonds ready to release their natural oils. If you are patient you will get drippy, slightly sweet and very fall spiced butter that is even better when it has time to cool off.
I have to warn you though – make more than you need. This stuff is seriously addicting and you will find so many ways to enjoy it!
Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter
Ingredients and Instructions
Toast 2 cups of roasted unsalted almonds (2-3 minutes) or toast 2 cups of raw almonds (8-10 minutes) in a 350F oven. Add hot almonds to food processor and add 1-2 scoops of stevia and 1/4 tsp. salt. Blend 5-7 minutes in food processor until butter forms. You may want to scrape down the sides 1-2 times in the process depending on the food processor. Once butter has formed, add 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp clove and 8-10 grates or 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Pulse 1 minute further until combined. Scrape sides and pulse again 30 seconds.
What about you?
- Do you have a favorite brand of hair ties or headband that helps keep your hair up when running?
- Have you ever fallen on a run?
- Do you make your own nut butter at home?
There are days when my hair is good to me but there are others where I have a full on battlle with it…it seriously has it own life! Ha!
I have fallen plenty of times..never too serious to stop my run…but other people’s faces when they see a crazy haired girl running with bloody knees is just epic! Ha!
Elsie everything about your comment made me smile. So glad I’m not the only one! Thanks for stopping by and making me feel a little better about my clumsy self!
Bic Bands are awesome! I found that a lot of others like Under Armour do not stay put and it literally makes me want to go crazy when I workout. Try the Bic Bands for sure – they have tons of styles and colors. Have a great Thursday!
http://www.bicbands.com/
Yikes about that run. Im not a runner, so I give MAJOR props to anyone who can do long runs. My longest is 3 miles, and then my knees start to lock up on me and my back starts to ache. Old woman bones right here! lol
But this nutbutter? Helloooooo gorgeous. I actually prefer to make my nut butters at home, unless its PB. Peanut butter is just so easy and cheap at the stores, but almond butters and others are way too expensive so I make my own!
Homemade also makes it so much easier to throw some fun spices in the mix! Agree about the peanut butter. And Dave can eat a jar in 4 days – so we go through a ton between the two of us! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Pumpkin spice almond butter ?! <33 sounds so good! I've never made my own, but I need to get on that! It actually works well in a food processor? And I've never fallen on a run .. surprisingly! 😉
Oh you will love making your own – you will think they are never going to turn into nut butter than bam all of the sudden there is this luscious butter right there in your kitchen! Lucky girl not falling – hope you never do (it’s awfully embarrassing). Enjoy your weekend!
Good luck on the run this weekend! 🙂 And this Almond Butter looks waaay too amazing not to try! Yum-definitely trying this recipe this week!
Anna – thanks for the positive vibes the run this weekend was long but good! I slathered this all over my pancakes post run! I hope you do get to enjoy this almond butter soon – it’s soooo good! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
mmm this sounds great!!
It’s been a while since I’ve made my own almond butter. It is so much better homemade than it is in the store. Love the addition of pumpkin pie spice. Perfect for fall.
On running … I run with my crazy dog 🙂 He gets excited and starts bouncing around sometimes. We run in the early morning, and a while ago he tripped me just as everyone in my neighborhood was coming home from working the night shift. I went down as 15 neighbors drove by. Seriously embarrassing.